The Longest Essay I’ve Ever Written

Good morning! I hope you had a fantastic weekend and feel rejuvenated for the week ahead.

I had a wonderful weekend, full of aerials, where I started working on something new (to me) – a splits balance. The studio that I train at on the weekend, Vulcana, is beautiful and home to some very kind souls.

Last night, my housemate Jessica very generously donated some backpacks to me! I adore backpacks of all shapes and colours and sizes, and was so thrilled to get some new ones. My old grey one is pretty boring, and I’ve used it for over two years, so I’m excited to start using these new-to-me treasures.

Also in my life recently:

using my Staedler pens to write notes all the time – they make my notes so colourful and enticing. I almost want to study when these pens are hanging out on my desk.

thinking about starting up running! I love walking, but it isn’t a ‘challenge’ any more. Would be fun to do a bit of running before the weather gets too cool.

map of Brisbane and all the suburbs! My favourite suburbs are Fortitude Valley and New Farm, which is where my aerials training studios are – and home to my favourite farmers markets!

giant mosquito. Whoa.

it’s been a while since I’ve had a good old smoothie! This one was made with banana, chocolate, almond milk, and cinnamon. It was delicious on a hot day, before I ordered a lovely brunch dish of cabbage pancake topped with goat cheese, poached egg, roasted broccoli, and parmesan (unpictured).

This is the Brisbane City botanical garden. It was my first time visiting this particular botanical garden – I’ve been to two others in the area. Although this didn’t have as much plantlife as the other two, I enjoyed the lush green grass and simple ponds.

On a different note, my shoes are finally comfortable! I had some issues with my toe, and after wearing comfortable (read: ugly) shoes for a few months, giving my toe time to heal, I can finally wear my slightly-less-comfortable (but much cuter) shoes. I love this pair and glad that I’m able to walk around in them, completely pain-free!

I saw this online and it really got me thinking. What do I want to do in the future – and is it something I love? Will it be something I’m good at? Is it something the world needs? I’m going to keep thinking about this, and perhaps one day, pen in some of my career choices and see which ones fall into the centre.

This was the longest essay I’ve written in my life! It is a research essay about kidney disease in Queensland, and potential health-enhancing behaviours that may improve the mortality/morbidity of chronic kidney disease. It took me a little over a month to complete, so I was very satisfied to finally submit it last week.

Essays were also involved in my biology class. We worked in groups of six, and I thought we did a fantastic job together. I was super pleased with how our report turned out, and how we collaborated.

Finally, a lovely salad with some vegetable tarts. One tart is broccoli-parmesan, the other mushroom and pesto. I loved both, especially with this glorious colourful salad.

Last but not least, I finished my box of chai – which means I had 25 chai tea bags in less than a month. Definitely obsessed with that stuff. It’s just perfect with milk and honey.

Of course, I had to make a list of chai to try (I’m sure there’s some pun I can make with this). I hope I can find some of these here in Brisbane!

What cute backpacks! The blue one has to be my favorite. Looks perfect for similarly shaped books! The Ikigai picture is also really compelling and it initiated me to really think about what I want to do after I graduate college and get a Master’s (if that happens). Parts of me are uncertain about my career path, but for me, my goal is to gain as much experience in diverse areas and see what I like!

Thanks! It’s surprisingly much larger than I’d expected and has more than enough room for my laptop, notebooks, extra clothes if I need them, water bottle, etc.
I love your mentality when it comes towards a career path. I think you articulated my perspective perfectly too! Why not explore different fields while we are young and energetic, right??

It’s just about ten years since I graduated and I’ve been thinking of writing a post of all the advice I’d give my 22 year old self. 🙂 Your post reminded me of two of them! (1) Look after your knees (I’ve messed mine up from running/walking in shoes that weren’t good enough), and (2) be expectant/patient: finding the right career is an organic journey and you learn & grow so much from the missteps. I do love that diagram of ikigai. I’ve not come across the word or the diagram before. 🙂

Just read it – I love point #11 about how going cold turkey is unsustainable, and simply doesn’t work. I find myself with an ‘all-or-nothing’ hardcore personality when it comes to things like food, exercise, etc., so thank you for your lovely reminder.